According to stories on StarMagazine.com and NYDailyNews.com, the couple have been living separately for months and are preparing for a divorce. Rumors of Kutcher’s infidelity have focused on reports from TheDirty.com that the young star spent his anniversary with another (younger) woman.
ACAPULCO, Mexico (AP) — Mexican police have found five severed heads in front of a primary school in the Pacific coast resort of Acapulco.
It’s unclear whether the gruesome discovery is related to extortion threats that led about 140 elementary schools in the city to close temporarily earlier this month after teachers and parents decided it wasn’t safe enough to start classes.
State police say the five heads were found early Tuesday in a sack, along with a handwritten message threatening three alleged drug traffickers.
The heads all appear to be of men. But some of the five headless bodies found elsewhere in the city a day earlier were too badly burned to immediately determine their gender.
(photo By AP/Luca Bruno)
MILAN (AP) — Kobe Bryant said it’s “very possible” he will play in Italy during the NBA lockout, adding the country is like home because he spent part of his childhood there.
Virtus Bologna has made numerous contract offers to the Los Angeles Lakers star. Bryant discussed the offer with the Gazzetta dello Sport during a sponsor’s appearance in Milan on Wednesday.
“It’s very possible. It would be a dream for me,” Bryant said, according to the Gazzetta. “There’s an opportunity that we’ve been discussing over the last few days. It’s very possible and that’s good news for me.”
Bryant later spoke to a crowd — in Italian — at the event in Milan.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen over the next three or four weeks, but Italy has always been in my heart,” Bryant said.
Virtus told The Associated Press that the latest talks are centered on a $2.5 million offer for 10 games over 40 days from Oct. 9 to Nov. 16. That would come out to about $1.5 million after taxes.
The deal would allow Bryant to return to the Lakers immediately if the lockout ends.
The 33-year-old Bryant spent several years in Italy when his father, Joe Bryant, played on five teams from 1984-91. The elder Bryant, who once owned a small part of Olimpia Milano, now coaches the Los Angeles Sparks in the WNBA.
“Italy is my home. It’s where my dream of playing in the NBA started. This is where I learned the fundamentals, learned to shoot, to pass and to (move) without the ball,” Kobe Bryant said, according to the Gazzetta. “All things that when I came back to America the players my age didn’t know how to do because they were only thinking about jumping and dunking.”
Turkish club Besiktas and at least one team in China have expressed interest in Bryant, a winner of five NBA championships and 13-time All-Star. However, he seems most interested in the Virtus offer.
“It’s a huge honor for me to return to Italy. It’s home for me,” Bryant said in fairly fluent Italian in a video posted on the Gazzetta website. “It’s always been a dream for me to play in Italy. We’ve got to wait and see what happens.”
Virtus also recently reached out to Manu Ginobili, who played with Bologna before joining the San Antonio Spurs in 2002. Denver Nuggets forward Danilo Gallinari rejoined his former Italian club Olimpia Milano last week.
The NBA season usually begins in late October, but owners and players have failed to agree on a new labor deal. The two sides are at odds over how to divide the league’s revenue, a salary cap structure and the length of guaranteed contracts.
Last week, NBA officials announced the postponement of training camp and the cancellation of 43 preseason games.
Virtus has won 15 Italian league titles but none since 2001, when it also won the Euroleague for the second time.
Bologna opens the Italian league against Roma on Oct. 9. It did not qualify for this season’s Euroleague, although the team has big ambitions after signing former Clemson point guard Terrell McIntyre, who led Siena to four consecutive Italian titles before transferring to Malaga in Spain last season.
Jay-Z made an announcement during a press conference early Monday morning, stating that the New Jersey Nets would be changed to the “Brooklyn Nets.” The team will also be changing up their colors, which will be made when the new Barclays Center is completed in September 2012.
Round 4
Mayweather lands big combo with Ortiz huddled downward. Ortiz gets his feet, pounds Mayweather against ropes with his own hard barrage. Mayweather nods it doesn’t hurt. Ortiz hurts Mayweather, but loses a point on head butt. Mayweather knocks down Ortiz with right and left. Ortiz is counted out. Fight over.
Round 3
Mayweather slaps Ortiz with lefts. Ortiz looking for opening to no avail. Mayeather gets in jab. Nice firm right to face by Mayweather. Nice right to jaw by Mayweather. Ortiz too slow, walking into punches. Mayweather lands right, quickly backs away. Mayweather hides behind left shoulder and lands rights. All Mayweather now. Mayweather 10-9
Round 2
Ortiz lands a shot. Mayweather lands big counter right. Ortiz charges in. Mayweather again. Ortiz right to body. Mayweather holds in corner. Ortiz flails. Mayweather lands. Mayweather 10-9
Round 1
Mayweather throws two rights and ducks after each. Both guys feeling jab. Mayweather lands jab and right. Ortiz swings a glancing left. Mayweather gets in a right. Ortiz charges with a left. Mayweather to body before hold. Mayweather 10-9.
Pre-fight
Call him a villain if you want, but Floyd Mayweather Jr. is 41-0 with 25 knockouts and the most successful pay-per-view fighter in the world.
“Floyd is motivated because he’s the best thing out here at this time in boxing, and he wants to show the world how great he is,” said his uncle and trainer, Roger Mayweather.
If Mayweather’s boxing skills match his swagger tonight, look out.
Mayweather, 34, expressed no concern about the issues some fight fans feel could be detrimental to him inside the MGM Grand Garden Arena boxing ring.
Has a 16-month layoff built up rust on his aging body? Might legal problems, including a three-felony domestic violence case set to resume next month, distract him?
“Next question,” Mayweather said earlier in the week while playfully flipping a reporter’s notebook page.
Ortiz, 24, listened and reasoned, “He tries a little too hard to scare people. I think it’s funny how hard he tries to get into somebody’s head. He talks some stuff. I’ll take it.”
Ortiz will receive $2 million in guaranteed money, plus a share of pay-per-view revenues, while Mayweather is guaranteed $25 million, and could make as much as $40 million.
–Lance Pugmire
